rough
these weeks at Freedom, he had been so understandable, like Claire and
Anne and Daddy! He had never thought she was silly or
not-grown-up-enough, he liked children and animals and knew just what
to do to make Nonie and Davy happy; he had shared with her his
ambitions in his work as though she was a man but, with it all, he was
a farmer--his lot had been cast in the narrow confines of Judson's farm
and barns and piggery--except for these pleasant days at Happy House
she, Nancy Leavitt, with her heart set on a goal as distant as the
stars themselves, could have little in common with him.

All this flashed through her mind as she walked slowly, reluctantly
toward the orchard--and with it an annoyance that their pleasant
comradeship should end this way. So that when, a little later, a very
earnest Peter began to tell her in stumbling, awkward words how much
her going must mean to him, she wanted to cry out and beg him to stop.

"Nancy--_I'm_ clumsy as the devil. Don't you _know_ what I want to
tell you? I can't let you go without knowing it--and--and--Nancy,
_could_ you ever--ever love a fellow--like me--enough--to--want--to
marry him?"

Then the woman's heart within her made Nancy ages old.

"Oh, Peter!" she said with tender compassion. She _didn't_ want to
hurt this very dear friend!

"I'm not nearly good enough for you, Nancy, but then, _any_ fellow
isn't good enough! And, Nancy, there isn't anything in this whole
world I wouldn't do--if you cared."

"Oh, Peter!" Why _in_ the world couldn't she say something more, she
thought. Why couldn't she stem that flood she knew was coming? Why
could she not make him see instantly, how impossible it all was--and
say good-bye and go!

"I'll make you happy, Nancy--if loving will do it," he finished humbly.

"Peter--I wish--you hadn't--said this!"

"Do you mean you don't care--a bit?" he cried, protestingly. "Have I
frightened you? You said yourself that living one day up here was like
weeks somewhere else! Somehow I've not thought of your going
away--ever. You seemed such a part of it here. You're
so--different--from all the girls I've known! You're such a--_pal_.
That's the kind a man needs!"

Nancy was biting her lip to hide its trembling. Over her swept a
reverence for this that Peter Hyde was offering her--she knew that a
man's pure soul was being bared before her. His awkward words came
slowly because they were born of a deep feeling. She was